NEW YORK: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday (Sep 23) accused Israel of looking for a wider battle, insisting that Tehran has been intentionally holding again within the hope of securing regional peace.
“We all know greater than anybody else that if a bigger conflict had been to erupt within the Center East, it won’t profit anybody all through the world. It’s Israel that seeks to create this wider battle,” Pezeshkian instructed a roundtable with journalists as he attended the United Nations Normal Meeting in New York.
Pezeshkian, inaugurated in July as a reformist throughout the cleric-run state, was making his UN debut as Israel strikes Lebanon following a wave of attacks on handheld communications devices concentrating on Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
Tensions soared instantly after his inauguration because the visiting political chief of Hamas, the Palestinian militants who attacked Israel on Oct 7 final 12 months, was assassinated in an operation in Tehran extensively attributed to Israel.
Pezeshkian alluded to appeals from the West for Iran to not retaliate in order to not jeopardise United States efforts for a ceasefire within the Gaza war.
“We tried to not reply. They stored telling us we’re inside attain of peace, maybe in per week or so,” he mentioned.
“However we by no means reached that elusive peace. Each day Israel is committing extra atrocities and killing increasingly individuals – previous, younger, males, ladies, youngsters, hospitals, different amenities,” he mentioned.